85-year-old missing tribal woman's body retrieved from 70-ft gorge in Maharashtra ghat, cousin nephew, his friend held for murder to rob her gold

Navi Mumbai: Mandwa coastal police in Raigad have discovered the body of the missing 85-year-old tribal woman from Alibaug taluka from about 70 feet in the gorge at Ambenali ghat near Poladpur after detaining two suspects who confessed that they strangled her for robbing her gold ornaments and threw her body in the Ambenali ghat valley on May 31 night by taking her body, wrapped in a blanket and bedsheet and bundled in a plastic sheet, in the pick-up vehicle of the key accused relative.

Police inspector Somnath Lande informed that the son of murder victim Sunanda Laxman Patil, who resided alone in Saral tribal hamlet in Alibaug taluka, lodged her missing complaint on June 2. During inquiry in the hamlet, it was learnt that on May 31 around 10.30 am, Patil was spotted travelling in an autorickshaw with two men. From the CCTV footage, the autorickshaw registration number was obtained and the auto driver was contacted, who said that he had dropped the woman and two men in Teenvira village, Alibaug taluka, which was about 15 km from Patil's house. The passengers, Andarsh Hiraji Shedge, 32, who was Patil's cousin maternal nephew, and his friend Ritesh Naresh Lohar, 20, a gardener, were detained as suspects on Thursday morning.

Initially, Shedge claimed that his aunt came to his house but, as she was not feeling well, he made her sit in an autorickshaw and she returned home. However, the CCTV camera footage near Shedge's house revealed that he was telling lies as no autorickshaw was spotted. When grilled, Shedge confessed that he and Lohar strangled Patil to rob her gold ornaments and then threw her body in the Ambenali ghat gorge.

Lande said, "The accused revealed that on May 31 morning, they picked up Patil from her house in an autorickshaw after persuading her to accompany them to attend a function in their Teenvira village, Alibaug taluka. Hence, she had adorned gold ornaments. Upon reaching Shedge's unoccupied house around 11.30 am, they strangled her and kept her body hidden till evening. Around 5.30 pm, they drove with her body in Shedge's pick-up vehicle for about 5 hours to reach Ambenali ghat in Poladpur area where they threw her body in the valley around 10.30 pm. However, the body got stuck in the trees about 70 feet in the gorge or else the body would have landed more than 100 feet down the gorge."

Police said, "After confessing their crime, the duo accused led us to the spot in Ambenali ghat where they threw Patil's body in the valley. With the help of Pratapgad search and rescue teams from Mahabaleshwar, Patil's body was retrieved from the gorge. The duo accused were arrested after registering an FIR under BNS sections for punishment for murder, causing the disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen an offender, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping or abducting with intention of murder or for ransom and joint criminal liability for common intention. They were produced before Alibaug JMFC court that remanded them to police custody for four days, as the victim's robbed gold ornaments, probably 7-8 grams worth around Rs one lakh, are yet to be recovered from the duo accused."